J&K retailers, subscribers hit by prepaid ban

Jammu & Kashmir has been used to various kinds of bans for obvious reasons. But the Union government's decision to ban pre-paid mobile connections in Jammu & Kashmir, citing security related reasons, has left the aam aadmi in the state fuming. However most consumers across the country look at it as one strong step towards stringent subscriber verification process.

The ban comes with many strings attached. Experts say the ban is a dent to the pre-paid SIM service that generates direct and indirect employment opportunities to lakhs. There are 20,000 retailers who earn livelihood by selling these SIM cards.

The J&K STD/PCO Owners' Association fears 10,000 members who had been directly dependent on pre-paid connections will be rendered jobless. The mobile companies -Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Bharti Airtel, Aircel, Reliance Communications, Vodafone and Tata Teleservices - currently have a monthly business of around Rs 150 crore in the state, most of it in pre-paid cell connections. Out of 45 lakh connections in J&K, 39 lakh are pre-paid. While Airtel launched its pre-paid service in April 2004, BSNL had started the same in June 2005.

There are around 400 customer touch points, 350 major distributors and around 48,000 small and big retail outlets across the state, apart from the innumerable number of mobile selling and repair shops. The home ministry's decision is likely to affect everyone linked to these businesses.

The government reasons that the pre-paid connections are prone to misuse. A majority of the mobile users in J&K are in sub-Rs. 150 ARPU. Prepaid connections are used by subscribers with limited earning.

After a long wait the state had an access to mobile services, marked by temporary bans on SMSing etc. The government concern of national security is valid. The Jammu & Kashmir government plans to take up the issue of ban on prepaid mobiles with the Union home ministry to ensure that genuine users do not suffer and security is not compromised.

Following the announcement of ban many users queued up to get their pre-paid connections converted to post-paid. The agony of the user does not end here. Not only does one need to rush to get his connection converted, but pay an extra amount for it.

The government could have come to the rescue of these low-income users by making the conversion free of cost and hassle free. What the operators need to look at how to make the conversion simple and non-taxing, else the user will have no choice but to deactivate mobile services. According to some online communities, the conversion fee ranges between Rs 400 to Rs 500. This is likely to generate a lot of churn. If the government is committed to make the country digitally democratic and mobile, it can not afford to ignore the low salaried or daily wage earner who might not even have a proper postal address where his mobile bill could be posted.

Some media reports say that Airtel, one of the key operators in the sate is not even converting the prepaid user to post paid. Instead of looking at the scenario as an opportunity to exploit the consumer by charging him an additional amount for converting it in to post-paid, the telcos should have tried enough to retain their customers by making the conversion free or with nominal fee.

Besides there are other ways that the miscreants can resort to. The government has to tackle the issues of SIM cloning and VoIP. There are some technologies that a shepherd in a small Kashmiri village may not be even aware of. What needs to be done is to educate the user of what can improper consumer verification mean. But putting a block on the services that come convenient to those who need it the most is definitely not the best route.

heenaj@cybermedia.co.in